Puerto Rico
Ajilimójili
A Puerto Rican sauce of garlic, cilantro or culantro, olive oil, and vinegar, used as a marinade and finishing sauce.
caribbean
Puerto Rico
Explore 87 foods connected to Puerto Rico, from everyday staples to rare local specialties.
87 foods12 leading categories1 Essentials guides
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The local shortlist
Puerto Rico Essentials
12 editor-selected foods for understanding the place through what people eat.
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Traditional foods from Puerto Rico.
87 foods in this view. Filter by category, type, rarity, or search every recorded name.
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Puerto Rico
Alcaparrado
A Puerto Rican mixture of capers, olives, and pimientos used to season stews and rice dishes.
Puerto Rico
Alcapurria
A dough of grated green banana and yautía shaped around picadillo or crab and deep fried into a dark torpedo.
Colombia
Almojábana
A small Colombian cheese bun made with corn flour and cuajada (fresh cheese), baked until golden. Soft and spongy, it is a classic breakfast bread from the interior.
Dominican Republic
Arañitas
Dominican 'little spiders': grated green plantain mixed with garlic and salt, fried until crispy and lacy. A crunchy plantain fritter, served with aji or hot sauce.
Puerto Rico
Arroz Mamposteao
Puerto Rican arroz mamposteao, also called arroz junto when rice, beans, meat or seafood and sofrito are cooked together into one moist pan.
Dominican Republic
Asopao
Asopao de pollo
A Dominican soupy rice stew, usually made with chicken but also cooked with shrimp, pigeon peas, fish or beef, plus sofrito and vegetables.
Puerto Rico
Barriguitas de vieja
Puerto Rican coconut fritters, sweet and dense, made with grated coconut and spices, fried until golden.
Dominican Republic
Besitos de Coco
Dominican 'coconut kisses': small, round coconut macaroons of grated coconut, sugar, and egg whites, baked until golden. A bakery and home sweet, chewy and intense.
Spain
Blood Sausage
Morcilla
Spanish blood sausage made with pork blood, fat, onions, and fillers like rice or breadcrumbs, with many regional varieties.
Puerto Rico
Caldo santo
A Puerto Rican soup of fish, coconut milk, and vegetables, creamy and gently spiced.
Puerto Rico
Carne Frita de Cerdo
Puerto Rican fried pork chunks, marinated in adobo and garlic, then fried until the outside is shatteringly crisp.
Puerto Rico
Cazuela
A Puerto Rican dessert custard of coconut milk, sweet potato, and calabaza squash, baked until set.
Puerto Rico
Cetí
Ceti
Translucent river fry, no longer than a fingernail, netted at the mouths of the northern rivers and fried in whole spoonfuls as fritters or in an omelette.
Puerto Rico
Cheese Flan
Flan de queso
The standard caramel custard made denser and tangier with cream cheese blended into the base.
Dominican Republic
Chicharrón de Cerdo
Dominican fried pork rinds, crispy and golden, served with lime, hot sauce, and tostones. A street and asado staple, crunchy and savory.
Puerto Rico
Chichaíto
Chichaito
Anisette and white rum poured half and half and drunk as a shot, usually cold from the freezer.
Dominican Republic
Chillo Frito
Dominican fried red snapper (chillo), crispy outside and tender inside, served with tostones and lime. A coastal restaurant classic, especially in Boca Chica and Samaná.
Puerto Rico
Coquito
Coconut milk, cream of coconut, condensed milk, rum and cinnamon blended and bottled, drunk cold in small glasses through December.
Puerto Rico
Corn Sticks
Sorullitos de maíz
Cornmeal cooked into a stiff dough with cheese, rolled into short cigars and fried until the outside cracks.
Puerto Rico
Cuerito relleno
A Puerto Rican stuffed pig's foot: deboned and stuffed with seasoned ground meat, then roasted or fried.
Venezuela
Dulce de Coco
A Dominican dessert of grated coconut, milk, sugar, and cinnamon, cooked until thick and creamy. Served cold, a roadside and colmado staple, sweet and coconutty.
Spain
Flan
Flan de huevo
Spain's classic caramel custard made with eggs, milk, and sugar, with a soft caramel sauce on top, found in every Spanish home and restaurant.
Puerto Rico
Funche
A Puerto Rican cornmeal mush, similar to polenta, cooked with milk or broth and often served with codfish or cheese.
Puerto Rico
Gandinga
Pork liver, heart and kidney diced and stewed with sofrito, potato, olives and capers until the offal loses its edge.
Puerto Rico
Guanime
A Puerto Rican corn dumpling of fresh masa wrapped in corn husks and boiled, often served with milk or stew.
Puerto Rico
Guanimes
Cornmeal and coconut milk dough wrapped in banana leaf and boiled — a Taíno survival, eaten with stewed salt cod rather than as a snack.
Puerto Rico
Guava Pastry
Pastelillo de guayaba
Puff pastry folded around guava paste and often cream cheese, baked and dusted with sugar.
Cayey, Puerto Rico
Guavate Roast Pork
Lechón asado
A whole pig turned over charcoal for six hours or more, basted with a garlic and oregano wet rub, carved to order by the pound.
Puerto Rico
Guineítos Verdes en Salsa
Puerto Rican green bananas simmered in a savory tomato-onion sauce with garlic and herbs.
Puerto Rico
Habichuelas Guisadas
Dominican stewed red beans in a tomato-and-sofrito sauce with garlic, oregano, and cilantro, served over white rice. A core component of la bandera dominicana.
Puerto Rico
Horchata de ajonjolí
A Puerto Rican sesame horchata made from ground toasted sesame seeds, milk, and sugar, served chilled.
Chicago, United States
Jíbarito
A Chicago Puerto Rican-community sandwich using two flattened, fried green plantains instead of bread, filled with steak, garlic mayo, lettuce and tomato.
Puerto Rico
Kola Champagne
Kola Champán
A bright red-gold cream soda with a bubblegum-and-vanilla flavour, bottled on the island since the 1920s.
Puerto Rico
Limber
Fruit juice, coconut milk or spiced milk frozen solid in a small plastic cup and eaten by pushing it up from the bottom.
Puerto Rico
Mallorca
Pan de Mallorca
A soft, coiled egg-and-butter roll dusted heavily with icing sugar, split and pressed flat on a griddle, often with ham and cheese inside.